The World of Llowellen: Play-by-forum & Roll20 Virtual Tabletop.

Why then should you bother

The World of Llowellen’s intended audience are experienced and mature groups already familiar with role playing and with the d20 System.

Fans of d20, d20 Past, d20 Modern and The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game should all find something for them in the World of Llowellen. Those already familiar with and fond of Monte Cook’s variant Player’s Handbook, Arcana Evolved, will find that this is a world built upon those rules in addition to the themes and concepts introduced in Malhavoc Press’ Anger of Angels and Bastion Press’ Faeries.

It is designed for players who appreciate story at least as much as they do action. It should appeal to those who like to explore more mature themes in their games than are typically presented in a gaming book.

It is designed for those who might wish to experience a more interactive campaign setting. Devoted online support, through Obsidian Portal, provides several benefits to a fan of the World of Llowellen. Firstly, it provides a community in which to enjoy and discuss the world. It is also a place to gain news on upcoming projects. Thirdly, it provides a means for players to contribute to the direction of the campaign by participating in design discussions and polls or by submitting their own work for inclusion on the site.

Finally, it allows gamers who are unable to find a group in which to play locally a different way to play online and still enjoy the World of Llowellen. How? If you’re reading this, and you wish to participate in a World of Llowellen campaign please come by the forums, we always need new players.

A friend of mine once asked me, why bother? He was house-sitting for us while we were out of the country, and as a gamer he had been drawn to – and then overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pages and notes that were burying my desk and the surrounding shelves. It was a good question. The simplest answer, is because I can’t help it.

I ran an online World of Greyhawk game for several years (a remarkable feat for any game, especially an online game). That game was an extension of the tabletop game that I had ran since I was 10 years old. The same game, in various evolutions, made it’s way from Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy, through Basic, 1st and 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and then ended as a Third Edition game online. It was a golden age, and any gamer worth his dice knows what I’m talking about.

It ended because of the Open Game License. When d20 first became an open product that anyone could publish, anyone did. In fact, everyone did. I was furiously working away at publication myself. I just never made it on time, and the bubble would eventually burst. But I remained inspired, and overwhelmed by the sudden vast deluge of new material. The days of a single-party publisher, and of tracking down and buying every book ever written for my favorite game had passed. Those days were long gone, but my desire to buy, read, use and play every book ever published had not, unfortunately, faded.

And so, the World of Llowellen was born in 2003 with my grand plan to design an original campaign setting and to compile all of the rules that I would use at my own table. The new age of third-party publishing meant that the likelihood of players arriving at the table with books you’ve never seen, casting spells you’ve never heard of and using skills and feats you’d never imagined had arrived. I intended to circumvent that problem by providing an encyclopedic archive of all the best rules and to create the world within which to bring them to life.

The World of Llowellen project may seem ludicrously ambitious (it is), it might be a whole lot easier to just pick up a module and just play (it would be) and yet I manage to amuse myself with the creative endeavor of playing at writer, editor, game designer and game master. In doing so I am going under the hood and learning how the game works (and where it doesn’t) to a greater depth than just playing it.

But as I told my friend years ago, I just can’t help it. I do it for myself, for reasons I can barely explain beyond saying it puts a smile on my face and keeps me, most of the time, out of trouble.

“Living is mostly wasting time, and I waste my share of mine.” – To Live Is To Fly, Townes van Zandt